Fighting for city's survival

Stockton's council took the most drastic measures possible Tuesday to spare the acutely sick city the ordeal of bankruptcy. Will their Hail Mary work?

Michael Fitzgerald

Stockton's council took the most drastic measures possible Tuesday to spare the acutely sick city the ordeal of bankruptcy. Will their Hail Mary work?

The answer is complicated. Certain variables could go the city's way, or fit Stockton squarely into the proverbial cement galoshes.

The council voted to impose deep cuts to all employees and even to retirees. The cuts are temporary. For them to end, though, public employee unions must swallow hard and accept multimillion-dollar concessions.

Union response has been varied. Several small unions have agreed to all necessary cuts. Let us pause for a moment to applaud Operating Engineers Local 3.

OE3 includes the city's lowest-paid employees. Yet its members sacrificed to keep the city afloat. So did police management and civilian middle managers.

They deserve to be commended.

Stockton Fire, which has an open contract, is also reportedly taking big steps in the right direction.

Union reps eliminated all staffing restrictions, such as the sacrosanct four-person engine. They are offering cuts over 20 percent, said union boss Dave Macedo.

"We've worked exceptionally hard at reaching an agreement with the city," Macedo said.

On the other hand, the city's largest employee union refuses to renegotiate most provisions of its closed contract. In fact, the Stockton City Employees Association even wants its scheduled raise!

SCEA spokespeople did not return calls.

Compounding the problem, the main police union vowed to fight the imposed cuts in court. Jeers; Such a battle would be costly for the city to defend.

Meanwhile, an ongoing lawsuit brought in 2010 by the fire union against the city's declaration of fiscal emergency - the legal leg the city stood on to break contracts - is also a factor.

An arbitrator's decision is expected any day.

If the arbitrator voids the city's declaration or imposes a compromise the city cannot afford, and unions continue to resist, the city will face "two equally unacceptable options."

It must either slash 253 positions or declare bankruptcy.

There appears to be no support on the council for chopping 253 positions. The city's work force has already been axed from 1,775 (in 2007) to 1,386.

A council once loath to even utter the word bankruptcy appears to have faced an even worse prospect: cutting another 100 positions from the Stockton Police Department.

"Stockton suffers from the highest crime rate in California," City Manager Bob Deis wrote in a report to the council. "Requiring the elimination of over 100 employees in the Police Department is an unacceptable alternative that will place the City's citizens at risk."

Stockton's force of 441 officers has dwindled to 342. Retirements further reduced it to about 335. Crime is rising in all categories. Rape recently spiked 30 percent. The cuts would also require closure of five Fire Department companies: four engines and one truck.

City leaders don't want to go there.

"It would leave the citizens of Stockton at too high of a risk for physical harm," said Councilman Dale Fritchen. "It is something we can't stomach."

The decision to impose cuts may mean slugging it out with the police union.

"It seems like if we look at them cross-eyed they file a suit," said Vice Mayor Kathy Miller. But, "Our legal counsel believes that we have a very strong case, that this is truly a situation where the public safety is in jeopardy."

At first glance it might appear, then, that bankruptcy may come down to the outcome of the threatened police (or other) union lawsuit. Not necessarily so.

A lawsuit would take a year, at least. The police union's contract expires in 2012. The city might defend itself in court until the contract expires.

Then, with the contract open, leaders can negotiate necessary cuts. Or impose them if talks deadlock. It can also do this with other bargaining units as their contracts expire over the next few years.

"As time goes on," Fritchen said, "it's going to be easier and easier for the city to manage expenses of the employees."

A handicapper might put Stockton's chances of skirting bankruptcy at 2 out of 3. One big reason is the unified council. Its vote to impose cuts Tuesday was 7-0.

"I think we have no option but to fight it," Fritchen said of any court challenge. "We are fighting for the survival of the city."